This afternoon, Europe’s young talents will be sharing their talent on the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Taking place from the Minsk Arena in the Belarusian capital Minsk, twenty countries will take to the stage in a two and a half hour live show.

The live show will be hosted by Eugene Perlin, Zina Kupriyanovich and Helena Meraai, with a special performance by last year’s winner, Polina Bogusevich. The participants of the show will also join together to perform the theme song for this year’s contest, “Light Up”.

Malta will be represented by 12 year old Ela Mangion with the song “Marchin’ On”, written by Ela with Emil Calleja Bayliss and composed by Cyprian Cassar. Ela is in good spirits for the show - you can see what she said to us when we sat down with her earlier this week here.

The winner will be decided by an online vote and a professional jury, each counting for half of the overall result. You can vote online at www.jesc.tv for 3-5 countries, including Malta. The vote will close once the show begins, and will reopen once the performances are over.

The running order of this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest has been determined this evening, during the event’s official opening ceremony – held at the regal Georgian national library in Tbilisi. In addition to seeing this year’s participants on the red carpet, viewers and guests of the opening ceremony were treated to performances by Georgian national ballet, Sukhishvili – alongside previous entrants of Georgia at Junior Eurovision.

The countries performing in the first and last position were chosen by random draw, along with the running position of the host country. The draw was also carried out by the hosts of the opening ceremony, which included last year’s winner Mariam Mamadashvili. The remainder of the running order was chosen by the contest producers to ensure an entertaining show. This was announced by the European Broadcasting Union later in the evening.

01. Cyprus

02. Poland

03. The Netherlands

04. Armenia

05. Belarus

06. Portugal

07. Ireland

08. F.Y.R. Macedonia

09. Georgia

10. Albania

11. Ukraine

12. Malta

13. Russia

14. Serbia

15. Australia

16. Italy

As you may have noticed, our very own Gianluca Cilia, and his entry ‘Dawra Tond’, penned by Emil Calleja Bayliss with music by Dominic Cini will be performed towards the latter part of the show. Over the next few days, each country be rehearsing on the stage at the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi. The live show will be airing at 16:00 CET, and Maltese viewers will be able to follow all the latest on Television Malta (TVM). In the meantime, for all the updates throughout the week, we urge you to follow escflashmalta.com even on Facebook and Twitter.

The European Broadcasting Union made an official announcement this morning that 39 countries have submit paperwork to participate in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. Despite the withdrawal of Ukraine, this is relatively exciting news, as the event will feature two more countries than last year, following the return of Serbia, Cyprus and the Czech Republic. Malta is one of the few countries to have selected both the singer, and the entry, with Amber set to perform "Warrior" written by Elton Zarb and Matthew Mercieca in one of the two semi-finals.

The European Broadcasting Union has also divided the semi-finals with respective number of participants, due to the fact that the number of participating countries is odd. As a result, 16 countries will partake in the 1st semi-final on the 19th May, as opposed to 17 countries which will partake in the 2nd semi-final on the 21st May. The allocation draw will take place on the 26th January, and will be streamed live through the official website of the Eurovision Song Contest. We urge you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com even through Facebookand Twitterfor all the latest news about the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.

Apart from the means of FM Radio in the Netherlands on FM 106.8 and the audio stream from the studio via www.radiointernational.tv and on Digital Cable 781 & Cable 8.1Mhz in the Netherlands, the show will also be web-televised via the Radio International TV Channel from the studio and linking up the many international Eurovision fans and friends and play your requests and read your messages out on air. The simulcast will be from 2000 – 2300 hours CET when fans can join in and chat amongst each other via the Chat Room and request their favourite Eurovision entry.

Radio International has built a name for itself throughout the years by bringing about exclusive video and audio interviews with some of the most notable names to have either participated in the Eurovision Song Contest or even in national selections preceding the continental event. In this week's episode, listeners will have the opportunity to hear interviews with; Corinna May, favourite to win the 2002 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest; Scott Fitzgerald, first runner-up in the 1988 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, losing against the popular Celine Dion by just one point and last but not least; Suzy who almost took Portugal back into the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with her entry "Quero Ser Tua".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR2wdgJ6gJ8

As the curtain on the 2014 season of the Eurovision Song Contest is brought down, David Mann will continue to look at cover versions from the event whilst the latest news from escXtra and escflashmalta.com will be read out. In the meantime, former representatives of the Eurovision Song Contest are always looking for ways to please their fans and thus new music is being recorded and published throughout the year. Radio International will be playing the most recent singles as sent in by several record labels. We urge you to tune into Radio International this evening at 20:00 CET in order to request your favourite entry from the Eurovision Song Contest and listen to the special features.

Catarina Pereira, runner-up of the Festival da Cancao in 2010 and 2014 has just released a music video for the song "Mea Culpa" composed by Andrej Babic with lyrics by Carlos Coelho. The entry, first runner-up to "Quero Ser Tua" by Suzy, which in turn failed to get through the semi-final stage of the 2014 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest by just a mere point, would have done much better surely, with a latin sound that is vibrant, current and always in fashion.

Portugal returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after missing out in 2013, hoping to leave an impact on the festivities considering that the nation is yet to mark a victory or a top five result for that matter. We urge you to stay tuned to escflashmata.com even through social media portals Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news about artists who tried their luck at representing their nation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Rui Andrade, one of the most well respected male vocalists in Portugal, having finished as the second runner-up at the Festival da Cancao in 2011, 2012 and 2014 has recently recorded a cover version of the song 'Angel', which Chiara had sung on behalf of Malta in the 2005 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was 9 years ago today, that 'Angel' had finished as the first runner-up following a stellar performance by Chiara on the Kiev stage.

In the past couple of weeks, Rui had the opportunity to join the Russian Delegation at the international song competition, having been asked to be a backing vocalist during the performance of 'Shine' by the Tolmachevy Twins. The song which eased through the first semi-final managed to finish in seventh place, despite the public outcry against the Eastern country. We urge you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com even on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news.

It has been an entertaining fortnight with certain entries falling well below expectations with others coming to terms with new found fame following first rehearsals on the stage found at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tonight! The beginning of the 2014 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with sixteen countries set to compete against one another in hope of garnering one of the ten available slots, and in doing so joining the big five; Spain, France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom as well as host country; Denmark.

Whilst Malta will not be in contention this evening, the Public Broadcasting Services will still be broadcasting the event through Television Malta with commentary set to be provided by Carlo Borg Bonaci, head judge at this year's edition of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest. In the meantime, we have asked our panel of professional reviewers to come up with the names of the countries they believe will get through to the final this evening and this is the cumulative list which they have come up with;

Armenia

Estonia

Sweden

Russia

Azerbaijan

Ukraine

San Marino

The Netherlands

Montenegro

Hungary

We urge you to tune into escflashmalta.com through Facebookand Twitter this evening with Emil Calleja Bayliss, Brooke, Rikki Lee and Davinia micro-blogging on the acts competing in the first semi-final. Once more, we remind you that the comments passed forth by our special guests do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the escflashmalta.com editorial team. Remember, the first semi-final of the 2014 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest kicks off at 21:00 CET on Television Malta.

It has become customary for the escflashmalta.com editorial board to engage professional individuals from the music industry to assess the songs competing in the Eurovision Song Contest as presented to the European Broadcasting Union during the Heads of Delegation Meeting. Martin Isherwood, Deo Grech, Stano Simor and Matt Mercieca from the United Kingdom, Malta and the Czech Republic have been entrusted with the first semi-final, comprising of sixteen songs and set to take place on the 6th May 2014 at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, Denmark. Making use of the running order and thus moving onto number #13, we catch up with Portugal (RTP) who will be represented by Suzy and the song Quero Ser Tua written by Emanuel.

In late 1999, she released the song Nesta Noite Branca, a hit that is still played on the radio and shown on TV today. This year she was invited by producer Emanuel to perform his song at the 2014 Portuguese national selection, Festival da Canção. At the event, which celebrated its 50th anniversary, Suzy sung Quero Ser Tua and won the Grand Final with it. The composer of the song, Emanuel and Suzy have worked together already before this triumph and are now preparing a new album to be released this year.

Emanuel’s skills rapidly became well-known and he was soughed after as composer and orchestrator by well-known 80s Portuguese pop musicians. Among them, Marco Paulo, the most successful singer at the time, to whom Emanuel produced his 1988 album Joana, which was awarded four times platinum. He also become a phenomenon as an artist with the song Pimba, Pimba which sold in excess of 500,000 copies in the first six months alone!

The receptiveness to the new musical concept created by Emanuel was such that the Portuguese record market, in the next two years, changed completely with the emergence of numerous artists, record labels and even television shows and weekly magazines that adopted the new musical style. The media called the new movement "Pimba music", which made Emanuel one of the few people to have their name in the Portuguese Language Dictionary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk5i7Hfyy3o

Portugal, known to be the country with the most participations in the international music competition and yet to master a victory. Their most successful tries in recent years were back in 1991 with Dulce Pontes and the song Lusitana Paixao, in 1994 with Sara Tavares and the track Chamar a Musica and last but not least in 1996 when Lucia Moniz almost troubles the top five with the song O Meu Coracao Nao Tem Cor. In their last two participations, the country failed to get out of the semi-final stage of the competition despite presenting a beautiful entry entitled Vida Minha, sung by Filipa Sousa back in 2012. They are returning to the international showcase after a year off.

Professional Critics Voice their Opinion

Rating: 40%

Martin Isherwood: Nice to hear a song not in English Nice voice. Nice, but not particularly hooky. Nice to hear an accordion. Not quite as catchy as the Lambada. Nicely Latin. Don't think it's a winner.

Deo Grech: I have nicknamed this entry as the 2014 comeback for the notorious 'Lambada'. Suzy is currently suffering from the hated-in-her-own-homeland syndrome as the Portuguese seem to have preferred Catarina's ''Mea Culpa'' to this...and I can't blame them! People in the audience were booing and even left their seats as soon as she was declared as the winning entry. Not a great comeback for Portugal at the Eurovision, at all! They need to fix her live vocals too or else this will be yet another wasted opportunity for Portugal. And by the way, Portugal and Malta share the same Eurovision record....both with the longest participation without ever winning the contest. We need to change this record, pretty soon! We have to!

Stano Simor: Very unusual song from the most western part of Europe, with influence of Balkan. Quero Ser Tua has set high expectations in trying to achieve a hit song but unfortunately, the potential does not appear anywhere. She will most likely appeal to the southern part of Europe.

Matt Mercieca: Im very unbothered about this, I don’t love it but I don’t hate it, the latino beat is kind of hot! but over all its very blah! and at points very silly!

Rui Andrade, a male vocalist who has finished as the second runner-up in the Festival da Cancao on no less than three occasions including earlier this year is set to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark as part of a team of backing vocalists. In yet another escflashmalta.com exclusive, we have learnt that the singer/songwriter from Portugal will be accompanying the Tolmachevy Sisters during their performance of the song Shine composed by Philipp Kirkorov & Dimitris Kontopolous with lyrics by Ralph Charlie, John Ballard & Gerard James Borg.

Participation in the Portuguese national selection was handled by none other than Olivier Vanhoutte, a longtime friend and escflashmalta.com editor who has declined to give a comment with regards to the story. Nevertheless, other outlets have confirmed this story which will add to the international intrigue surrounding the Russian entry at this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The question which many will ask is whether this will turn up to be a wise marketing move or appear to be a desperate attempt at trying to secure votes. We urge you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all the latest news about the 2014 edition of the continental competition.

Danmarks Radio, host broadcaster of the 2014 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest has just revealed the running order for the international competition taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Represented by Firelight and the song Coming Home, written by Richard Edwards Micallef, Malta will be opening the second semi-final on the 8th May 2014.

Prior to the announcement of the draw for the running order, Malta had never been given the opportunity to open the semi-final of such an illustrious show. At first glance, one might be shocked but personally I had a strong feeling that this could happen given the diversity of the genres that make up the first half of the second semi-final. Seventh in qualification with the bookies, Coming Home is facing a fate bestowed to the likes of Nije Ljubav Stvar, This is My Life, Run Away and Love In Rewind, all of which have successfully qualified to the final of the continental competition.

It is quite interesting to denote that those entries which opened the second semi-final have proven to be much more successful than those opening the first semi-final. In the meantime, the situation in the first semi-final is even moreso intriguing especially with the first half of the show induated with ballads, despite that they try and preserve themselves as individualistic. Favourite to win the Eurovision Song Contest with odds shortening by the second, Armenia is set to open the first semi-final in a bizarre twist.

One has to remember that ten countries per semi-final will get through to the final show set for the 10th May 2014 at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, Denmark meaning that nine nations will be left out in the cold having not been selected amongst the best that the continent has to offer. In the final, the qualifiers will join entries from Spain, France, Germany, United Kingdom and host country Denmark who have already been given an extremely late draw following a random draw. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

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ESC Flash Malta is an all music related news agency with the primary focus to cover the Maltese and Eurovision music scene. We work with reknown sources to bring to you the best news cover at a moments' notice. To receive premiere updates in your email, we highly recommend to register for our free newsletter.